HARDY PLANTS. 
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refuse and horse manure, will improve a heavy soil and make 
it better suited for delphiniums. Grow in groups of three, six, 
or a dozen plants to secure the best effect. Plant 3ft. apart 
in October or March. To ensure free and long blooming, 
promptly remove the spent flowers and do not allow seeds to 
form. Top-dress every spring with rotten manure, and give 
liquid manure occasionally when the plants are in flower. 
Every third year liff, divide and replant the roots early in 
April. The annual species include : D. cardinale, scarlet, 3ft. ; 
D. Ajacis (British Rocket Larkspur), blue, white or pink, i2in., 
and its varieties, nanum, cceruleum and roseum ; D. Consolida, 
and its varieties, album, cceruleum, roseum, and imperiale, 
bearing double flowers of shades of blue, rose and white, 
2ift. ; and D. orientale, rich purple, 3ft. The annual kinds 
make fine plants for massing in the mixed border or on the 
fringe of shrubberies. Seeds may be sown in the open borders 
in September to ensure plants for early blooming the next 
season, or in March or April for summer flowering. The 
seedlings should be thinned out early to a foot or so apart. If 
the thinning be done in showery weather the thinnings may 
be planted out elsewhere. The perennial kinds may be in- 
creased by seeds sown in gentle heat in spring, the seedlings 
being afterwards transplanted into boxes, hardened off in May 
and planted out in June; or in the open border in April, 
transplanting the seedlings when large enough to handle 4in. 
apart in a nursery bed, and finally planting out the following 
Spring. Also by cutting's of young shoots in pots of sandy 
soil in a cold frame in March or April, and division of the roots 
in March. 
Dentaria. (Toothwort). — There are at least a score 
species of this genus, but D. bulbifera is the only one we care 
for. This grows 1 to rift, high, has pinnate leaves, bears 
purple or white flowers in racemes during the spring, and 
small bulbils in the axils of its leaves. It belongs to the Wall- 
flower order (Cruciferae), and is a native of Britain and Europe. 
A suitable plant to grow in a half-shady border in sandy soil. 
Plant in autumn. Increased by division of the roots in 
autumn, or seeds in spring. 
Dia.nthus (Pink, Picotee, Carnation, and Sweet W'illiam). 
— Hardy plants of great value for garden decoration, belonging 
to the order Caryophyllaceae. The Pink (D. plumarius) is an 
old garden favourite, having been grown for generations in 
British gardens. The species is seldom grown except on 
old walls. The double white and other varieties make excellent 
edgings to borders, or groups on the margins of borders. 
Moreover, their flowers are so very fragrant. A few good 
